Architectural Technology Transfer on the Silk Road: Iranian Double-Shell Domes and the West: 14th to 20th Century

ongoing

DOMES is an exploration of the shared architectural legacy of Europe and the Middle East. Specifically, my project details the transmission of architectural knowledge across the Silk Road from Persia to medieval Italy during the fourteenth century. Utilizing an innovative research methodology, DOMES aims to overcome traditional classification of architectural history based on the linear evolution and comparison of styles and forms, to promote a more comprehensive account of the history of construction, nourished by the material understanding of site-specific traditions. Utilizing structural building techniques as the basis for the project, DOMES focuses on the transmission of two types of architectural knowledge: technical knowledge and preservationist knowledge. This project proposes that the technological knowledge of building double-shell brick domes was originally transferred from Iran to Italy. Furthermore, DOMES investigates the historical exchange of Italian architectural restorers and Iranian preservationists through the study of the restorations of the same double-shell brick dome monuments during the 1960-70s. Through the combination of the study of unpublished archival documents in Tehran and the on-site analysis of the restorations carried out on monuments, DOMES will provide an innovative example of medieval global architectural history and will narrate the transfer of preservation knowledge from Italy to Iran.